the weiners and the clintons. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with this. this thing in new york is getting a lot bigger than some sleazy e-mails. there are largers stakes in in matter that be the political future of a desperate former congressman. it comes down to one word, reputation. there are cynics who willer. >> that politicians and politics cannot go any lower in public esteem. for those i can't help you. if you've lost hope, you're pretty much on your own. this weiner business only a matter he argues is still a private matter involving him and his laptop is giving new york and the democrats the kind of branding that could make them

the butt of jokes, worse yet, deep in heartfelt disgust for years to come. if he stays in the race to the ends and wins a significant number of votes, he will count himself a winner. every vote he gets, every other candidate he beats will be a statement to the country about new york and about the democratic party. a statement that will be used against both again and again and again. the people who know them best are the former president bill clinton and possibly future president hillary clinton. if they won't say it out loud how this is hurting their reputations, their friends are. howard fineman is the editorial director for the "huffington post" media group and terry o'neal is president of the national organization for women. they've got a heavyweight here. thank you. howard, i don't like to do this but we've got approval on this. it has been a believe it or not a reliable website. the dirty which posted sexually explicit messages allegedly between weiner and a 22-year-old

woman he met online. posted new photos today and the website promises to publish more tomorrow. it shows how big of a challenge he will have if he decides to stay in the race. his past misdeeds will continue to haunt him. meanwhile, we're seeing signs the clinton world is distancing itself from the whiners. over the weekend, dee dee myers, former press secretarying to president clinton blasted anthony weiner as unqualified and declared his campaign over and said the clintons would be happy to see the weiner story go away. let's watch her. >> look, isn't a story that will anybody, particularly the clintons is happy to see splashed all over the news relentlessly. i think they, as much as anyone, would like to see this go away. so you know, if they could choose, they would certainly have him get out of the ruse and huma get on with her life. it's not a comparable situation

to what hblt went through in a lot of the ways. >> the new york post quoted a top state democrat who said the clintons are upset by the comparisonsing between drawn between them and the weiners. >>s "the clintons are blanked off that weiner's campaign is saying that huma is just like hillary. how dare they will. hillary is the first lady. hillary was a senator. she was a secretary of state. hillary didn't know huma would do this whole stand by your man routine. that's one of the reasons the clintons are distancing themselves from all this nonsense." well, let's go right now to howard fineman. on behalf of n.o.w., terry, i'm not sure what you're going to say. howard, it looks to me like the clintons, the one thing we know about anthony weiner is he married well. he maried human my eied huma abh

her all the time. not somebody she wouldn't trust. here she is playing this role of enabler. keeping this guy in the race. >> well, >> politically, not about the marriage. politically keeping him in the race. >> that's right. the clintons are in a sense a kind of royal family in the democratic party. he married into that royal family. and he seems to be abusing his privileges. and now he's put her in a terrible position. and the clintons in a bad position. i can assure you that dee dee myers didn't come out on face the nation with guns blazing basically speaking on behalf of the clintons had she not had good reason to do so as a former press secretary to the president. clintons stick together. the people in clinton world generally stay in clinton world. >> fellow that from reporting >>, of course. i know lots of people who are upset at the notion that huma and anthony are using clinton world, using their can the cas for fund-raising to try to get

donors for his campaign. one thing i can assure you is dee dee myers' announcement on "face the nation" yesterday is a signal to whoever within the clinton world was willing to or thinking of contributing to anthony weiner that it not only is it acceptable not to do so, but probably it's a very good idea not to do so because lease nos desire in clinton world to see these stories mix together any longer than they have to be. >> one of the hoots of this whole thick has been weiner's contention that this is all a private matter in his home. he said this is happening in my home. he's on his laptop which reaches the universe and he's used that laptop to reach young supporters who like his politics and established the still transitional relationship. even bill maher spent his whole show talking about weiner, said i talked about it. he spent the show talking about it. fair enough. happy to see you, bill. but the thing is the women are involved, as a leader of the

biggest organization for women's rights and equality and dignity, what's the story about? >> about a man who needs to drop out of the race, period. in the privacy of his own home? please, he's taking pictures of himself and his anatomy all erect if i can say that on television. >> you just did. >> and tweeting it out and putting it out there in cyber space where it is clearly not private. his behavior is really reprehensible. i think part of the reprehensible nature of his behavior is to then hold himself out as a potential leader of men and women. >> what do you make of big mar's comment? he can be pretty liberal to say the least. he thought it was a political leader who has a fan club out there for political reasons to then recruit them into his she's ball game there. >> it sounds a lot like what the mayor of san diego did. in other words, you get people in there will and then there's a modus operandi. you like my politics?

let's talk about this. i want to draw you in here. psychologists have talked about it. it's a personality disorder. it's this and the other. >> this is like sort of the breaking bad, the sleazy breaking bad version for the clintons. and the clinton world doesn't want america and the world reminded in a cheap echo version of what happened in their time in the white house. >> 15 years ago. this brings up to data old problem. >> it's an old problem but emphasis old and it is. >> anthony's fair enough keeps saying this is up to the people of new york. the latest polling is always fascinating. new york is so diverse, you never what's going to come out of a poll. christine quinn has regained her lead. 27, leading the poll right now substantially. de blasio is two at 21, thompson at 20, weiner at 16. we're always watching these things with fascination. he hasn't -- he's lost a big

lead but he holds to the core 16. one in 16 new yorkers still say weaner. >> if you put all the plos together over the last several days, there's been a precipitous drop in his poll numbers. what the floor is, i don't know. but the combination of the clintons world making it clear that they will don't want him around, that's going to damage his fund raising. it's going to damage his ability to get good campaign workers. he lost his campaign manager the other day. he's going to die on the vine here. i don't know what the bottom number is. he's probably not seen the bottom number yet. he can stay in the race. there's no reason for him not to. he's already humiliated himself beyond repair. the only way is forward for him. it's not going to be a forward to the top of the ticket. >> what about the fact he spent $45,000 of campaign money given by campaign contributors to help his political career for a phony investigation of somebody hacking into his computer when in fact he knew that was a lie to begin with? he threw away $45,000 to make

himself look better. >> of his funders' hard earned money. number two, i don't understand why any democratic funders would be supporting him if his name was amy instead of anthony. there is not a single democratic. >> what you do you think, they support him because he's male? >> if he were female, he would be toast. >> we're always learning. i can't imagine a woman sending out naked pictures of herself on the twitter. >> if it did happen, nobody would -- >> crazy. >> there would be nobody funding her. >> they would be considered crazy. >> crazy and totally -- and absolutely she would be a pariah. which he's not yet but he needs to be. >> the problem with his hiring a private investigator, it shows he wanted to fight dirty. to the extent he had any smidgeon left of a story that was sympathetic that he was a sympathetic character, now he looks like a cold calculating

guy willing to hire a private investigatory go after his enemies over this story. >> this week he told a newspaper "you're stuck with me." he insisted he's going nowhere. let's watch. >> i don't take my cues on policy from the sunday talk shows listening to pundits. ip never have. i don't take my cues from the headline writers in the newspapers. i never have. those are the very same people that didn't want me to run, that the didn't want new yorkers to have this choice. i'm going to keep talking about the things important to this city. i don't really care if a lot of politicians or pundits are offended by that. i think new yorkers deserve that choice. i'm going to let new yorkers decide. >> am i the only one who thinks he's enjoying thissing? like nixon enjoyed his resignation? he thinks it's a funny dirty joke. he's loving it. where are the cameras? they're on him. the microphones are under his chin. everybody wants to hear from anthony. this is a bizarre national

festival of weirdness. >> yet, howard said his campaign manager as resigned. again, not just funders. i don't understand any operatives who would work on his campaign. >> his top aide just quit. >> the what alternative does he have? i don't think he's smiling. i think he's walking forward because there's no other way for him to go. he's moou humiliated beyond repair at this point. he may, as well play the hand out till the end. >> he's like bashir assad. >> i'm not going to say that will. >> assad ain't got no place to go. here's what i think his strategy is. coming in a zrong third, a strong fourth, get a decent chunk of the vote. have a big hotel room, rent it out, hundreds of people will be there. he'll be crying, she'll be crying. he'll be saluting the people that stuck with him and the democratic party will look ridiculous. thank you, howard. and new york to some extent although it's very big. howard and terry o'neill from the national organization for

women, not of women, for women. >> coming up, a man who knows a thing or two about trying to res sect a political career in new york city is, eliot spitzer. republicans have made it clear they can't get more people to vote for them, they're going to make sure fewer people have a chance to vote for democrats. a meeting at the white house today was designed to stop republicans from doing just that. and the latest shot in the republican civil war between the tea party types and the shrinking moderate wing. this weekend, rand paul miklaszewskied governor chris christie for saying as paul put it, gimme, give me all my hurricane sandy money now. he's playing with fire. let me finish tonight with the meeting taking place between israeli and palestinian officials right here in the american capital. final status of negotiation pchz who could have believed? this is "hardball." the place for politics.

well, guess who's coming to dinner or lunch? actually? hillary clinton had lunch with president obama today at the white house. the lunch was closed to the press, but aides say the president invited his former secretary of state and the lunch was a friendly chance to "catch up." there they are together outside. a beautiful day today. hillary clinton is having breakfast tomorrow with vice president joe biden who may well be her chief rival should she decide to run for the nomination in 2016. we'll be right back. and that's why we use angie's list. online or on the phone, we help you hire right the first time with honest reviews on over 720 local services. i want it done right. i don't want to have to worry about it or have to come back and redo it. with angie's list, i was able to turn my home into the home of my dreams. for over 18 years, we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today.

over the course of my public life, i have insisted i believe correctly, that people, regardless of their position or power, take responsibility for their conduct. i can and will ask no less of myself. i go forward with the belief as others have said, that as human beings, our greatest glory can consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

>> rising. that was former new york governor eliot spitzer resigning from office in 2008 just 48 hours after it was revealed he had been using a high priced prostitution service as governor and attorney general. he exited the public stage keeping a relatively low profile for a few years. now spitz ser is seeking is the to return to public life as the new york city comptroller, perhaps not less visible. responsible for auditing the city's finances and evaluating performpses of city agencies. here's a clip from his campaign ad. look, i failed. big-time. i hurt a lot of people. when you dig yourself a hole, you either lie in it for the rest of your life or do something positive. make sure your money does what it is supposed to do.

make sure the wall street companies play by the rules. keep in mind where the negative noise is coming from, maybe being hated by the wall street firms isn't such a terrible thing. everyone deserves a fair shot. i'm asking voters to give the same to me. >> the man once known as the sheriff of wall street for his tough prosecutions looked into the camera, you saw it just there asking voters to give him a fair shot. eliot spitzer joins us right now. do you like to be called governor still or elliott? >> i always use my first name even when i was in office. the honorary was not the important thing. >> i'm judgmental and judged well your decision to split after 48 hours. you didn't endure the agony nor waste time with the fuss. i gave you advice backstage one time. i said go low key like mike mill can after his embarrassment and do good work and run for an office somewhat lower and express your contrition. you took half my advice. here are you running for comptroller of new york. does that suggest a certain

level of humility, of acceptance of the fact that you did something that would bring you down a bit and therefore, you're running for the appropriate level of public applause here? you're not going for the big job? >> i said and a few people raised eyebrows when i said it, if i ever got back in it, i do credit you for the wisdom. others suggested this, as well, that you don't go back at the very top. i don't want to suggest this is humility. i think it's appropriate. i erred, acknowledged it, have ticken five years. some of it was low key. i hosted some tv shows, perhaps that was low key, as well given the ratings we had. the reality is i'm seeking a position very important to the public. i'm not trying to become the mayor or governor again. i'm trying to get a position that i think shows a desire to serve in a position that i hope i have the skills for. >> you've got a critical oversight role over city hall, over public officials. if a public official used their office equipment to engage in the kind of pasttime that anthony weiner has been involved

in in, would you fire them? >> i think the answer is yes. we have had a number of instances over the years where ineffectually, municipal employees, state employees used computers and the like for improper purposes. there is an appropriate sanction for that. there should be. this is having said that, that isn't the most important role of the new york city comptroller. you're making a point that has played out in the papers most often recently over the years. >> that would include the mayor, of course. i wanted to take ten minutes to get to that. you got to it so fast, i don't have a plan anymore. let me ask you, a lot of people are concerned. bloomberg, the mayor, very popular mayor in many regards. consider most city mayors after a couple terms, three terms he's still doing pretty well. he had this to say but. just condemning any one industry is not a smart thing to do. if there's something wrong on wall street, it's not the comptroller's job to do that. it's as the to make sure the

contracts are given out fairly and to contractor who are honest. that's where we need the next comp troller to focus on. he's saying focus on the city hall. don'ting be going off as the crusader against wall street. your response? >> there are many different facets of the job. i've articulated them. one is policy audits. critically important to make sure if we spend billions in a program, we're getting the policy return we should. a piece of it is overseeing is the city budget which is nuts and bolts. a third piece is overseeing the pensions and what comes with that is some oversight over the ownership capacity through shareholder proxies to mold corporate governs. we have had violations in corporate governance because of a failure to exercise account obligations of ownership. you can't regulate or prosecute your way to good judgment in the boardroom. owners have a responsibility to stand up. that's what warren buffett does

and what shareholders are supposed to do. pension owners, but i want to plug the book, it is the obl obligation of owners to participate. to a certain extent the violations we've seen in the boardroom are because shareholders have been too passive. >> suc earn your way back with a lot of people right now with the advice you give them. a very wealthy friend of mine told me, a double billionaire, he said the money's already taken out of the stock market before the average guy or woman puts a buck in. you invest in the equity in the stock market. the reason you don't get rich is because all the wealth has been taken out by the people knowing what's going on inside. legal or illegal, they grabbed all the loot. is that basically true? is the new york stock exchange on the level sir? is it on the level for the average person to invest. >> it is not. i think we're seeing that in the numerous insider trader cases

that the u.s. attorney for the southern district is making. we're seeing it because the fees improperly taken out by the future funds, this was an enormous area i investigated. fees that were disproportionate to the return the investors go got. jack boble, a very good guy, i don't want to plug -- create cad the vanguard fund on the principle fees should be very, very hope. in the long run, you won't outperform the market. when the mutual funds charge you fees, you're giving away all the up side and you the investor are the loser. it doesn't mean you still can't do well over a 20-year time who are rile zon. are there advantages where certain individuals trade ahead of you, the high speed trading, absolutely. >> one of the double billionaires floating around is mike bloomberg, the mayor of new york who believes that's what you're going to focus on. you're not going to sit around sniffing around who misused

computers but going for big game because that's where you bring your career back. >> no, i'm going to do the comptroller's job. one piece is using and overseeing is the pension funds and making sure they're used properly as owners of the many companies in which you invest. having said that, mike and i worked together very well when i was attorney general, he was the mayor. i was governor, he was the mayor. >> he's warning about you. >> look, where we disagreed was wall street. i would think that if the historical record is the one that i've been watching, what i was sayinging from towel till 2008 about structural problems, not just individual cases but structural problems, i was talking about subprime debt, about analysts lying to the public in insurance industry that was rigged. and i was saying to people, look, these are structural issues that can lead to a cat ta clix if we're not careful. we suffered through it. let's learn the lesson. the market and capital markets are hugely important to us, they

raise money but if there are flaws in them, we will go through once again what we suffered through in 2008. we don't want that. >> let me a tough question. i'm facenated with you because you know so much more about new york markets and equities. if you had to vote for mayor right now, who would you vote for? >> i would vote but chris, it's a great question. >> answer the question. >> looking >> show that you're different than most politicians. just say you're going to vote for quinn or whoever. thompson. >> i'm not saying >> you're not going to vote for anthony weiner. you don't think he should be mayor of new york. >> fair point. that is correct. >> he should not be mayor of new york? >> that is correct. >> thank you. you madenous here. up next, good luck in the race, by the way. we know who is playing hillary clinton in the new mini series, diane lane. who should play bill clinton in this is "hardball," the place for politics.

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back to "hardball." onto the sideshow. anthony weiner's campaign may be on the ropes but karls dangerous is all in. in fact, his alter ego has taken on a life of its own. here's jimmy fallon's impression of the now famous fictional characteristic, actually candidate on friday. >> if elected, i will turn new york city around. and give it exactly what it needs. i'm not afraid to do the dirty work. i'm not afraid to fight corruption. after all, danger is my middle name. it's also my last name. carlos danger danger. >> and he is great. i guess all it takes is an accent and mustache.

both have become comedic prerequisites for this role. take a look at wean areas ad released by "the daily beast" over the weekend. >> this was my neighborhood growing up. a middle class mucha cho playing stick ball late into the night. if we were lucky, a mets game on the weekend. my mom was a school teacher for 31 years in public schools just like this. my dad went to law school on the gi bill and hung a shingle outside our house. theirs is the classic new york story. work hard, make it into the middle class, you make life a little more dangerous for your kids. that's how the city was built. >> we love the city. and no one will be harder than carlos. >> il sext you every single day. thank you for watching. >> diane lane, by the way on the brighter side has been cast to play hillary clinton in a biographical miniseries set to air on abc during the run up to

the 2016 election. that is a double win for both of them. beautiful diane lane playing hillary clinton. a great career boost for her. the series will span the former first lady's career from 1998 through her time as secretary of state. and while the part of bill clinton has yet to be cast, the washington "washington post" reliable source blog put forth suggestions for the role. we thought we would have fun and consider the possibilities. start with jeff bridges. he would be my candidate. the big will he bow ski would probably pull this off. at age 63, he might be too old to play the former president when he was much younger. i think he can do it. billy bob thornton. not my favorite. he has experience playing politics in my favorite movie "love actually," where he played the bad guy and a character in "primary colors." next up, woody harrelson. don't let his bald head mar this choice. he's proven to be a very versatile actor and a washington

favorite having played played steve schmidt in game change. finally, josh brolin who played former president bush in "w" would go probably have an awkward on screen chem have i because he just split with lane. on second thought, that might be the trick. go to tv.ms.com to vote on this important election. next up, john mccain is standing up for a new interest group, strippers. the hill reported last week the senator faced pushbacking from strip club owners over legislation that would replace the $1 bill with a coin. the reason, coins make lousy tips. but the maverick senator was quick to device a solution. saying "i hope we could obtain larger dek denominations, fives, tens and hundreds this coins." up next, president obama hosts a vogt rights summit. the pushback against republican efforts to suppress the black vote in this country.

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of i'm bertha coombs with your cnbc market wrap. the dow falling 36 points, the s&p 500 was down 6 and the nasdaq losing ground by 14 points. number of contracts to buy previously owned homes from a six-year high. pending home sales dropped .4% in june. ford is recalling more than 33,000 cmax hybrids after tests reveal a safety issue with the roofs of the 2013 models. and amazon announcing its hiring 7,000 new workers ins 17 states for customer service and warehouse positions. that's it from cnbc, we're first in business worldwide. now back to chris and "hardball."

today, i am announcing that the justice department will ask a federal court in texas to subject the state of texas to a preclearance regime similar to the one required by section 5 of the voting rights act. this is the department's first action to protect voting rights following the shelby county decision. but it will not be our last. >> wow. welcome back to "hardball." that was eric holder late last week announcing the obama effort to combat voter suppression. keeping minorities from voting. his comments came weeks after the supreme court ruled to gut key provisions of the voting rights act of 1965. what you heard there the fight begins in texas where republicans are looking to implement some of the most

stringent voter i.d. laws in the country. but this is a conflict hardly contained to the lone star state. battles are brewing all across the country. at least 82 restrictive voting bills have been introduced in 31 states. this is not just a southern problem, all by republicans under the leadership of reince priebus lead ago the campaign to keep black people from voting according to the brennan center for justice and the advancement project. one of those states, north carolina which voted last thursday to approve harsh voter i.d. laws and restrictions on early voting, the new rules are expected to be signed into law today as protests are voiced in the capitol to march their frustration with the state's republican-controlled legislature. today at the white house, president obama convened a voting rights summit, a meeting with can attorney can general holder, labor secretary perez and civil rights leaders from across the country. their focus safeguarding every

eligible american's right to vote. there's al sharpton in the back. joining me is mark more yell, and leadership conference president wayne henderson both at today's white house meeting. mark more yell, thank you for joining us. we were right in the middle of the zimmerman trial at the essence convention and you got shortchange pded. you start out tonight. what can you tell us the president said to your groups tonight, the groups that lead this country what he's going to do to protect the right to vote? >> the president and attorney general were strong, forceful, they were resolute they are going to use their responsibility and their power to enforce the remaining provisions of the voting rights act. the voting rights act was wounded. it wasn't killed. there's still many tools in the toolbox of the justice department toef protect democracy and voting. the president also has designated the attorney general as his point person and as his point person, the attorney general has already shifted resources. the attorney general has taken

action against texas. and i believe that they are energized by the support they're receiving all across the country. there was a poll recently and it be indicated that over 50% of the american people across the board disagreed with the decision of the supreme court. so we have, i think, popular will on our side. but also, what's at stake is the future of democracy. if you look at that map, this effort to suppress the vote to make it more difficult for people to vote is inconsistent with everything this nation stands for. >> you know, i don't want tony large this beyond what it seems to be, but you're involved in fighting for minorities. >> that's right. >> you're a leader. it does look like it's almost like south africa to this extent. you have a white, what's the word, feeble mirnlt. it's losing its majority status. and it says the republican party, we can only get so many white votes. so we've got to reduce the votes of others. it does look that way.

maybe you're not partisan, but only republicans have phished this in these states. no democratic legislature. look at the pattern here. talk about profiling. i'm sorry, republicans do this stuff. >> you state aid point, in fact. i can't challenge that. i think though the president did something today that was important. he lifted up the importance of the right to vote for all americans. and obviously, we are concerned about the impact of the shelby county decision on african-americans and latinos, but this is a president who talked about the right of every american to vote and underscored the role of the federal government in helping to protect that right under the 15th amendment of the constitution. we thought it was a powerful statement. and a really important indication to the country that this administration was committed to enforcing the right to vote for all. now, what attorney general holder did last week was to send a powerful signal, not just to texas, but to the nation that other aspects of the voting rights act not damaged by the

shelby county decision will be used to help enforce the law. last week, he used section 3 of the act which helped bring in states that might otherwise not have been covered under a preclearance provision, but he also has section two of the act which is nationwide in its coverage and allows us to go after discriminatory actors after the act. >> here's the republican argument. in some cases republicans resort to made up voter fraud scandal to help justify the restrictions. the washington post fact checker over the weekend debunked the zombie voters in south carolina. in 201, the attorney general said we found out there were over 900 people who died and subsequently voted. state officials tried to impose new photo voter i.d. loss during the election. it turns out none of it was true. the so-caused dead people voters were the result of clerical errors or mistaken identities, people voting under different

names. back to more yell. nobody denies there are some case whereas somebody may have cheated. but the idea it would have affected the results of an election has never been established or any numbers of people established as crooked. yet, it's used all the i'm as a target for republicans to say we've got to have a more rules. >> this is pinocchio. madeup stories, false arguments. specious suggestions. there are things that are absolutely not true. and we're going to see more of it and more of it and more of it as some people try to hold on to power through these sort of shenanigans and unfair tactics. we're going to be transparent and we're going to throw a light on all of these bogus false arguments. but what we're also going to do i think, chris, is build a coalition. this is about protecting the rights to vote of all people. today's meeting included african-american leaders, latino leaders, leaders from the

american civil liberties union as well as the asian and american indian communities. it was a broad meeting to discuss the right to vote. i believe that americans have always stood up, time and time again, whether it was to get women the right to vote, whether it's the right to give 18-year-olds a right to vote, whether it's to strike down the poll tax, to ensure the right to vote for african-americans, americans have always decided on expansion of democracy, not restriction. >> most americans when confronted by the facts will support voting rights protections for all. and i think that this, what the president has done las said look, we're going to try to enact new changes in the law. we'll look to both democrats and republican who have treated voting issues as unique among the constitution. >> i just hope we all -- i'm not talking ethically. vote in all elections. we all get involved in the exciting elections like president. you've got to vote in the state

legislature elections. >> you've got vote for school board, mayors. those elections affect the things that -- >> reapportionment and gerrymandering. you know the game and the contest and the stakes. thank you. up next, the lautest battle in the republican civil war between the tea party types and moderates. rand paul is firing back at chris christie and peter king for saying, these are his words, give me, give me, give me all my hurricane sandy money now. there's a way to start a fight in jersey and staten island. this is "hardball," the place for politics. re's a word you shd keep in mind. unbiased. some brokerage firms are. but way too many aren't. why? because selling their funds makes them more money. which makes you wonder -- isn't that a conflict? search "proprietary mutual funds." yikes! then go to e-trade. we've got over 8,000 mutual funds, and not one of them has our name on it. we're in the business of finding the right investments for you. e-trade. less for us. more for you. the fund's prospectus contains its investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information and should be read and considered carefully before investing.

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and a 30-tablet free trial. we're back coming back with the latest fight in the republican party. if you're a democrat, you're going to love this fight. it's a big one. left versus right, hawk versus dove. "hardball" returns after this.

i love this fight. isolationism versus interventionism, dove versus hawk. those battle lines used to be drawn between the two the parties with republicans fighting the battle for vervention and war, democrats lining up against it. but the rise of rand paul and his faction of the gop has turned the gop against itself.

late last week, new jersey governor chris christie attacked paul calling his strain of libertarianism dangerous for the nation's security. over the weekend, paul responded. >> the people who the people wh criticize me and call names, they're precisely the same people who are unwilling to cut the spending, and they're gimme gimme gimme, gimme all my sandy money now. those are the people who are bankrupting the government and not letting enough money be left over for national defense. so i think it's precisely those people that are making us weak in defense. i didn't start this one, and i don't plan on starting things by criticizing other republicans. but if they want to make me the target, they will get it back in spades. >> one makes me think of a high school student council election, gimme gimme gimme. republican king of new york issued a stark warning to the party on cnn's state of the

union. here he is. >> when you have rand paul actually comparing snowden to martin luther king or henry david thoreau, this is madness. this is the anti-war left wing democrats of the 1960s that nominated george mcgovern and destroyed their party for almost 20 years. i don't want that happening to our party. >> love this fight. joining me now are two msnbc political analysts. neither strong republicans from what i can tell. david corn with mother jones and jonathan alter who comes from an old line democratic family. the a beautifully written book by john alter, "obama and his enemies." it is a fair fight because they're actually fighting about important things, about the philosophy of their party. should it be a big interventionist international party when all the way from ike who was reasonable about it all the way to w. who wasn't reasonable about it. this is what rand paul said three years ago. i don't think there is a reason to go into iraq. talk about fighting words. i don't think there was a reason to go into iraq. i mean, shove that in the face of peter king, and you got a

fight started. >> absolutely. this is for people like me who like history, this is back to the future. the republican party was torn apart on these issues around the time of world war ii and afterward. >> i know. and robert taft and other important figures in the republican party were isolationists. and then when senator vandenburgh of michigan converted internationalism, eventually all the rest of the party followed through the anti-communism days and through the war on terror. but now that coalition which was very powerful in presidential elections in stigmatizing democrats as soft on defense is breaking apart, and these fissures are developing in the party that are going to be very hard for them to paper over. >> david, how are they going to go to people in 2016 -- it's going to be a tough election. you know it's going to be close after eight years of the democrats. how do they have a platform, which you know is going to be

hawkish? because it is. it's written in gold there, and have a party nominee, perhaps, perhaps rand paul who is a total libertarian who is against all of this? >> it may not be as hawkish as it what been in the past. we know where the knee ye cons are, where the john mccains of the world are, lindsey graham. >> the ruling coalition? >> that has been the ruling coalition. they've been trying to put down the mad dogs of isolation like rand paul. >> and ron paul before him. >> remember rudy giuliani's takedown during the debates. whether rand paul or anybody else can take this to the grassroots of the party and find some faction. >> where is the grassroots? >> i think they're kind of split. this is where chris christie made a big mistake. he attacked rand paul's isolation for being libertarian. libertarian is a good word to the tea partier. >> sure is. >> because they play to government spending and taxing. so instead of using isolationism which is a bad word to a lot of

people, he used a good word. >> what is your take on that? is that the bad way to go? i think christie overreached by saying you've got to be hawkish. very few americans are hawkish right now that i can see. >> look what is going on in the nsa debate. you know, you a lib-lib thing with liberals on the left and libertarians on the right getting together, and they rein in the nsa. that's almost a done deal. >> the majority of the polls we've been show thong program on "hardball" snowden, whatever you think of him personally, as a whistle-blower, not as a traitor. >> this is a signal, a canary in the mine shaft for the way the politics of this country are changing quite rapidly. maybe not as rapidly as on gay marriage. but clearly, privacy is trumping national security right now in our debate. it's going to be very, very difficult for the republicans to navigate this. and mitch mcconnell has a particular problem, chris. his campaign is being run by rand paul's political advisers.

>> i can't wait. we're going to do whole shows on these guys. stay ready. we're going to keep doing shows on this. this is the most exciting thing. it used to be democratic party are the cauldron for these kinds of debates. thank you so much. good luck with the book, the center holds, jonathan alter's great new book. we'll be right back after this. and i know the results will be fantastic! find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

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let me finish tonight with this. this evening here in washington, israeli and palestinian officials are sitting down at the table. it's the beginning of real

negotiations over the future of the mideast, negotiations aimed at the creation of an arab state alongside the jewish state. these are not talks about talks, but the real thing, as outstanding as that sounds. i give credit to netanyahu for taking the step to make this happen and for mahmoud abbas to limiting his demands to what the israeli government was willing to accept. both sides have made a choice for talks, real negotiations with all the risks they entail. i often ask myself what i would support if i were a typical israeli. would i risk a deal on land to get a peace deal? would i make concessions if it meant formal recognition of my country by the many arab countries in the region? we'll have to see if the deal gets that close. we'll have to see how far president obama will go, how far the israeli and arab positions will converge. will they get as far as they did when yasser arafat pulled the plug in the last days of the clinton administration? we'll have to see. but tonight as the two sides meet here in the american capital, i salute those at the table, those who led them to the

table, bibi netanyahu and mahmoud abbas, and secretary of state john kerry who worked hard to get this far. and of course to the president behind the big push, barack obama. blessed are the peacemakers. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsnation" with all sharpton starts right now. thanks, chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. i am live from washington, d.c. tonight's lead, fighting for voting rights. today the president of the united states called civil rights leaders to the white house to say are you ready to fight back. i was there in that meeting, and i saw firsthand how the president is determined to hit back against right-wing efforts to block the vote in the wake of the supreme court's decision to gut the voting rights act. since that ruling, republicans have gone on a rampage with states all across the south